Aspera F40 review: Features | Pricing | Specs

Where to buy

While 2019 has seen a lot of hype around foldable phones, we've actually only seen one hit the market in the form of the wallet-busting Samsung Galaxy Fold.

The Aspera F40 has a folding mechanism, but in price terms, it couldn't be much further from the Galaxy Fold, unless it was actually free. It's a flip feature phone, a relative rarity in 2019, which puts it more in direct competition with handsets such as the Nokia 2720 Flip, albeit at a lower price point.

Like Aspera's Jazz 2, the Aspera F40 can be yours for just $99 outright, which puts it into the deliberately super-budget category. If it's a phone form factor that appeals to you, that might sound like a bargain.

I'm very much not the target market for this particular type of phone, so for the purposes of this review, I've also grabbed the assistance of my own mother, who quite independently of this review purchased an Aspera F40 for her own telecommunications purposes.

She sits well within the assumed target market for this kind of phone – older Australians who don't want a smartphone but recognise the value in having a simple device for calling, texting and other rudimentary functions.

Design

• Cheap plastic build
• 2.8-inch internal display
• Exterior message lights
• Rear SOS button

• Read our full review of the Aspera F40's design

  For $99, you really can't expect much, and like Aspera's Jazz 2 phone, what you're getting is a device with design style and build quality that can't help but feel archaic. It's got a very cheap plastic build with absolutely no hint of any kind of water resistance. That wouldn't be a fair expectation for a phone this cheap, but you're also potentially looking at a phone that may break down a fair bit faster than comparable devices simply due to the cheap brittle plastic used in its construction.

  

  Where it does benefit is in its compact size, as all flip phones tend to. Folded down it'll slip easily into a pocket or purse, and only the blinking external message lights will give its presence away. Aspera calls the silver colour of the Aspera F40's external shell "titanium", although it's contrasted with a direct silver tone on the internal body.

  Aspera rather optimistically refers to the Aspera F40's internal display as "large", but at only 2.8 inches, it simply isn't so. There are significant bezels above and below the screen, although the interface is pleasingly "large" within the scope of such a small screen.

  

  Underneath the display, you'll find a traditional five-way pad, call, answer and select buttons and a T9-style physical keypad with shortcuts for contacts, SMS messages and the camera functions. All of the Aspera F40's buttons are large and rubbery, with a slight delay when you press them. If you're expecting fast response out of a phone of this style, though, you're looking at the wrong phone.

  

  One very welcome feature of the Aspera F40 is the inclusion of an SOS button, located on the rear of the phone. You have to configure it – my mother incorrectly guessed that it would dial 000 if she pressed it – to send an emergency SOS to a contact of your choosing if calamity prevails.

  

  Again, though, I'm not the target market, so turning to my mother, I grabbed her impressions about what she liked and didn't like about the Aspera F40. For her usage, the larger buttons are a definite boon, with the high contrast on the individual keys making a positive impact on her messaging speed.

Camera

• 5MP rear camera is awful
• Can't silence the shutter sound

• See sample photos and read our full review of the Aspera F40's camera

  Old school flip phones were around at the very dawn of mobile phone photography, and despite being a 2019 handset, the Aspera F40 appears to have borrowed that philosophy when it comes to camera shooting. There's only a single rear-mounted 5MP lens, and while it's conveniently linked to a button on the keypad, it's not fast in any aspect. It's slow to launch, it's slow to take pictures and you're only presented with a few simple options when it comes to picture taking.

  It's also equipped with a very noticeable digital beep when you take any picture at all. While I can appreciate the privacy implications around shutter sounds, there are use cases – photographing a sleeping infant, for example – where being able to silence that sound could be quite useful. However, you simply can't.

  The Aspera F40 struggles to take even rudimentary pictures in good conditions, and this is evident even on its low-resolution display. Pull the photos off the phone and it's even more apparent.

  Aspera F40 sample photos

  
  
  

Performance

• Android 9, not that you'd know it
• Large custom interface
• T9 text entry remains laborious
• 3G/4G compatible
• Can work as a Wi-Fi hotspot

• View test results and read our full review of the Aspera F40's performance

  My expectations for the Aspera F40 were that it would be a feature phone running one of the many feature phone operating systems, because that's all the target market really wants or needs. Surprisingly, that's not quite so. The Aspera F40 is an Android 9 ("Pie") phone, although it's certainly the open-source parts of Android, not a fully-fledged Google device here.

  You're still very much limited to the applications you get on the phone, which include essential messaging services, multimedia playback (including FM radio), a calendar and even a rudimentary browser application.

  Most of these functions are very basic indeed, but again, that's arguably a good match for the target market. I struggled a lot with the keypad-based text entry, and even my mother, who likes keypad-based phones, admits it's a much slower way to manage your messages or enter URLs for the web browser. That tiny screen also makes web browsing a terribly laborious process. If you're after a phone that's going to go online, even within the Aspera family, you'd be so much better off with the Aspera Jazz 2.

  

  The Android roots underpinning the Aspera F40 won't be readily apparent to its target market either, with a large icon-based interface that makes it very simple to move between what applications are present at will. It's a plus for this target market for sure.

  The Aspera F40 is a 3G/4G phone sold unlocked within Australia, so it should work with any network you want to connect it to. You can optionally use that 3G/4G data connection to make it into an ad-hoc Wi-Fi hotspot for other devices, too. This does work, but with the caveat that you'll incur data charges and burn through the Aspera F40's battery pretty quickly if you do so.

  

  Again, though, I'm not the target market, and my mother provided an excellent use case for the actual buyers of this handset. She uses the Aspera F40 to make phone calls, send and receive texts… and that's it. I'm pretty sure that this is going to be the typical profile of most Aspera F40 buyers too. If that's what you want out of a phone, the Aspera F40 won't disappoint. Then again, any other phone would do that too.

Battery life

• 1,600mAh battery with poor endurance
• Removable battery continues the retro theme

• View test results and read our full review of the Aspera F40's battery life

  Like the Aspera Jazz 2 before it, the Aspera F40 is a phone with a removable battery, although it's not a particularly large battery.

  At just 1,600mAh, it's on the smaller side by any modern battery benchmark, not that the Aspera F40 would actually support benchmarking usage to speak of.

  Also of note is that, like the flip phones of old, the Aspera F40 places the SIM card and microSD storage expansion behind the battery, so if you do need to change them, you have to power the entire phone down.

  Measuring battery life on a flip feature phone is always a tricky feat to manage, so once again I leaned on my mother's lived experience with the Aspera F40.

  Her experience using it day to day is that it's capable of a day's battery life before the power depletes, but two days is unlikely. Her usage pattern is very typical of an older phone user with light usage, so if you're a heavy mobile chatter you may find even a day is beyond your scope without recharging.

  For a feature phone – and while this is running Android, it's provisioned as a feature phone with a limited feature set – that's a disappointing result.

  Recharging is via the supplied USB charger, and predictably it's using microUSB rather than USB C. For that older phone market, that's also a little disappointing, if only because the reversible nature of USB C means that it's easier to quickly plug in without having to check orientation first.

Should you buy the Aspera F40?

• A cheap and simple flip phone, but shop around for alternatives

There simply aren't that many flip phones on the market, and the chances are good that if you're considering the Aspera F40 it's because it's a form factor that appeals to you.

It's certainly not overpriced, and the overall experience does reflect that. If you're looking for a more complete smartphone-style experience, there are plenty of alternatives on offer, but within its niche, the Aspera F40 is a fair device, if not exactly an exciting one.

It is worth considering your alternatives, however. The Nokia 2720 Flip is a somewhat better built flip phone, albeit a slightly more expensive option. The Aspera F40 also manages to come in a little cheaper than Telstra's own in-house Telstra Flip 2 handset, but again, it'd be smart to check around for deals on price for either of those handsets.

Pricing and availability

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Specs